Grey Rene Y 8ERN

berniethebolt

After the demise of my Nocturne and purchase of the grey EP2 thought I’d start up a thread of works to get it up to a better standard.
Whilst it’s now at only 29,000 miles, drives very smoothly not at all a harsh ride and superficially looks great the process has begun

In this week at my local trusted body shop it have attention to some scratching and marks it’s collected over the years.
Getting bonnet and both front side grilles over the lights, rear bumper and tailgate repainted, a number of chips around the door edges sorted and a mop and polish, for £1,000 plus VAT which I thought reasonable

Early in August I’ve got a leather specialist going to sort out the tacky to the touch door handle and window switch panels and deep clean the EP2 interior

Then in Oct it’s off to Sandy for the full monty underside as you will see from the video it’s in need of some love and a new exhaust
Also discs and pads all round, cam belt change and full service and Sandy's door cill refresh

AviNL

I'm doing the same with my EP2 later in the year here in NL. It has exactly the same issue with the door handle area, previous owner must have had very long nails.

Please post the 'after' pics and what your garage did to resolve? The rubber surface area isn't my problem, well documented here, but the door handle surround is the challenge.

Hope all goes well!

Tempest

Great car, well worth the time, money and work.

berniethebolt

Ahh thanks so much so it’s not leather just self coloured to match the EP2 grey

bodie

i can't guarantee the EP2 is grey plastic underneath....but the cream deffo is !!
they probably painted the cream grey ! afaik that trim was never leather.

berniethebolt

So got the car back from my body shop and the good news is new paintwork to bonnet, light grilles at front, rear tailgate and bumper are fab, chips on door edges sorted and mop has brought the sides up a treat

Bad news is 18 year old paint has faded a tad so doesn’t quite match up so I’m biting the bullet and waiting for a quote to respray the sides complete and front bumper all to match, hey ho

I want to get the car up to a top condition so not a lot of choice

berniethebolt

bodie said:

i can't guarantee the EP2 is grey plastic underneath....but the cream deffo is !!
they probably painted the cream grey ! afaik that trim was never leather.

Meths purchased, hic, so will have a go over the weekend it’s definitely been painted to match the EP2 grey so will go carefully

berniethebolt

So it’s £1,800 + Vat to complete a full respray

bodie

Sounds about par for the course..
BTW with the meths give it a good soak and you'll find there is a point where the surface breaks down into a soft goo, too soon and no go, too long and it evaporates! Patience is the key..trust me it works. be prepared for using a lot of repeated doses but you'll get the hang of it after a few goes! And meths is cheap! 🤓 👍

Gib

Just to confirm you can get a lower half ( All the grey) resprayed for £1.8K+ ?
That seems ridiculously cheap. Are there some caveats or you need to do some of the prep your self???

berniethebolt

So it’s £1,800 + Vat to complete a full respray

Gib said:

Just to confirm you can get a lower half ( All the grey) resprayed for £1.8K+ ?
That seems ridiculously cheap. Are there some caveats or you need to do some of the prep your self???

That’s in addition to the £1,000 + vat I’ve already paid so a total cost £2,800 +’vat

Gib

That is still a good price in total, I had missed the first payment part

AviNL

berniethebolt said:

bodie said:

i can't guarantee the EP2 is grey plastic underneath....but the cream deffo is !!
they probably painted the cream grey ! afaik that trim was never leather.

Meths purchased, hic, so will have a go over the weekend it’s definitely been painted to match the EP2 grey so will go carefully

That's want I want to know, the colour of the underlying plastic on the door handle trim. Good luck and keep us posted bernie!

Johnny_Essex

Since it's easy to remove the handle and surround, you could see what the colour is on the back. If it matches the EP front, practise meths on the back to ensure you're not removing the EP colour.

berniethebolt

So gave a very gentle application of meths and very light rub to soak and it’s taking off the paint
Going to leave it and let Sandy repaint when it’s up with him later in the year

berniethebolt

After all he did a pretty good job on the Nocturne interior just a darker colour needed

berniethebolt

So after trying to check tyre pressures and finding some very strange valves that wouldn’t fit the tyre inflater connector got the valves changed and discover that the tyres are 9 years old and starting to get out of shape

ATS have a deal on so 4 Michelin Primacy 3 fitted @ £480 booked in for Wed

bodie

As I thought, the surrounds are all cream, just overpainted in whatever colour matched the E P interiors..either way for a cream interior they don't need repainting if the rubber gunk finish is stripped off. {unless badly damaged}

matraman243

berniethebolt said:

ATS have a deal on so 4 Michelin Primacy 3 fitted @ £480 booked in for Wed

Good price, I bought 2 for £240 back in Feb and couldn't find cheaper. Tyres in general seem in short supply right now.

AviNL

berniethebolt said:

So gave a very gentle application of meths and very light rub to soak and it’s taking off the paint
Going to leave it and let Sandy repaint when it’s up with him later in the year

That answers that question. Thanks for the photo! :-)

berniethebolt

So my leather specialist came round and carried out a deep clean of the leather and also removed the trims to the door handle and light switches

Fully removed the tacky coating on one of the door handle trims has now taken them all away to fully prep and recolour

More piks to follow when fully completed

AviNL

Looking good! IMO this is the best EP2 colour scheme, although the red version comes a close 2nd.

Avantime4mike

One of my car's is the same spec but needs a full respray. I can't decide whether to keep the Steel Grey (Gris Acier) or go for a completely different colour that will go with the grey EP2.

Any thoughts welcome.

berniethebolt

Avantime4mike said:

One of my car's is the same spec but needs a full respray. I can't decide whether to keep the Steel Grey (Gris Acier) or go for a completely different colour that will go with the grey EP2.

Any thoughts welcome.

The EP1 that Sandy did worked well with the Nocturne
The grey is growing on me it’s a colour still in vogue but the Nocturne in sunshine is a stunning colour

bodie

Nocturne in sunshine is a stunning colour
agreed , but i'm a bit biased !!

SteveM

There are three hyper rare grey colours that just a few Avantimes were built in, gris sirius (silver), gris pluton (another mid grey) and gris centaure (a green grey). The first two are a bit so-so but I have always wanted to repaint one in the last colour. Would be a pretty special build in a rare original colour with a grey exception pack. Just a thought.....

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tautaudu02/16845769258/in/photostream/

More details in the colours thread.

berniethebolt

The cd and sat nav cover was badly marked from someone’s previous attempts at cleaning so using the meths, cloths and plastic scraper technique got the tacky residue off then applied some autoglym trim gel, not perfect but far better than the before

bodie

fwiw the wing mirror /esp/ door switch surround comes up nice too...i used duraglit on all the hard black plastic, then polished.

Tempest

Sweet!

berniethebolt

My leather guy returned today having completed the refurb on the panels and after refitting applied polish coat to all leather surfaces, to say I’m pleased is an understatement

Link to his site his next 2 jobs are on a Jaguar and Rolls Royce his attention to detail is superb, he is based in Andover Hants

https://www.leather-smart.co.uk/

Tempest

Better than new!.